Peelsphere recycles fruit waste into leather-alternative biomaterial

Peelsphere brings together innovative design, material science and sustainability, with a mission to inspire a healthy and balanced lifestyle through its quality. The material design takes its inspiration by observing and developing the renewability of plants: through fruit waste and algae. Using advanced material engineering techniques, Peelsphere acts as an ideal alternative to real and synthetic leather.

Youyang Song is a textile designer and researcher based in Berlin, Germany, and her work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions across Europe and Asia. With Peelsphere the designer aims to create a material that could replace animal hide while still maintaining the core essential features of the popular material , thus providing a vegan alternative to leather. Her objective is to introduce new methods, challenge existing routines and redefine the relationship between materials and sustainability.

Peelsphere is a versatile material made through recycling, redesign, and remanufacturing, the material enters a closed loop system, optimising its potential while minimising the carbon footprint at the same time. Along with being an eco-friendly material, Peelsphere is also functional and aesthetically pleasing. It is made by extracting fibre and pectin from algae and fruit wastes like banana peel, orange peel which are then mixed and ground together into fine pieces, and further blending them with a bio-binder into a mixture. The mixture then forms sheets of leather like material which are flexible, transparent, durable, antibacterial and water resistant.

Peelsphere is available in a range of colours and patterns, made using natural or Oeko- Tex certified dyes . Laser- cut and 3D-printing technology is employed to cut the sheets into different sizes, making every piece unique and beautiful. The sheets can be folded, knitted, embroidered, woven and sewn into a wide variety of products. It can be hardened to create products like vases, biodegradable buttons, containers or can be used in its malleable form to be used for card holders, tote bags, table sets, hats, shirts, skirts and so on.